Cutting and collecting of staple fiber



Jan. 13, 1942. w. l. TAYLOR ET AL 2,269,564

CUTTING AND COLLECTING OF STAPLE FIBER Filed oct. s, 1959 s PATENTOFFICE 2,269,564 v CUTTING AND COLLECTING OF STAPLE FIBER William IvanTaylor and Alfred Herbert Woodruil, Spondon, near Derby, England,assignors to Celanese Corporation of America, a corporation of DelawareApplication October 3, 1939, Serial No. 297,677 In Great Britain October26, 1938 2 Claims.

This invention relates yto improvements in or relating to the cuttingand Dcollecting of staple ber.

According to the invention, staple ber iscut from continuous laments indry condition and is carried away from the cutting point by means ofsuction through a conduit leading into a chamber of substantially largercross-section than that of the conduit, the chamber extendingtransversely away from the conduit (i. e., if the conduit dischargesdownwardly, the chamber may extend away from it in a generallyhorizontal direction), so that the bers entering the Pchamber proceedalong the chamber at a velocity less than the conduit velocity, butnevertheless with a fairly rapid but swirling motion that serves tobring about some separation of th'e bers in any compact ber bundlesproduced by the cutter. At the end of the chamber remote from theconduit, a screen is provided to restrain the bers, for example, aim're-gauze or perforated screen covered with a fabric. The bers collectagainst the screen and may Vfrom time to time be removed, whichoperation is conveniently effected by duplicating the collectingchambers and providing change-over valve mechanism to switch theconduitand the suc,- tion from one chamber to the other. l

The invention will now be described in greater detail with reference tothe accompanying draw ing, in which Fig. 1 is a side elevation partlybroken away;

Fig. 2 is a plan view of Fig. 1 below the line 2 2; and

Fig. 3 is a detail of Figs. 1 and 2, looking in the direction of thearrow in Fig. 2 and drawn on a larger scale.

In Fig. 1 a bundle I of dry continuous laments is sho'wn proceedingdownwardly through the nip rolls 2 and a funnel 3 into a cutting machine4 comprising a cutting cylinder 5 and a xed cutting blade 6. The cuttingmachine is contained in a casing 1 which extends downwardly to form aconduit 8 connected to the left-hand ends of two horizontal chambers 9by 'a branched member I0. At the right-hand end of the chambers 9 abranched pipe II connects the chambers to a suction pump I2. The suctiondeveloped in the conduit 8 causes an inflow of airthrough a the funnel 3which assists in feeding the end of the bundle I to the cutting point,and the bundles of staple ber are sucked down the conduit 8, the xedblade 6 of the cutting machine having anv extended downward curve toassist in guiding the bers away from the cutting point into the conduit8. A Valve I3 is brought against one or other of a pair of stops I4 bymeans of a counter-weighted handle I5 so that the bers are directed intoone ofthe two chambers 9. Dampers I 6 permit one branch of the `liftedfor removal of the ber.

pipe II to be closed in accordance with the position of the valve I3.

The bers are thus sucked into one chamber 9 with considerable velocitybut as they reach the chamber their velocity is reduced, and thisreduction, combined with their change of direction' from the vertical tothe generally horizontal, causes them to pass towards they righthand endof the chamber with a swirlingk motion until they reach a screen I'Iwhich preventstheir escape from the chamber. Collection of the bers inone chamber proceeds until it is necessary to change over to the otherchamber, as may be seen by inspection through the windows I8, Thesewindows are provided in removable covers I9 provided with handles 2Il, arubber or like packing at the joint 2I with the top of the chamber 9permitting the cover I9 to be sealed against the suction applied insidethe chamber. ,l When one chamber has a suicient quantity of ber, thevalve I3 and chambers I6 are operated to carry the ber into the otherchamber, after which the cover I9 of the rst chamber may be The abilityto discharge two chambers 9 alternately thus provides for continuouscollection of ber from the single cutting machine 4.

Projections, for example nuts or bolts, should be avoided on the insideof the chamber,- otherwise bers might be caught and twisted intocompacted tails by the swirling of the chamber. j

With the chamber free from such projections, a mass of ber is produceddirect from the cutting operation in good open condition suitable forsubjection to the usual operations associated with the spinning of theber into yarn, the swirling motion within the chamber causing the drybers to separate from each other and lose the compact form of ber on berin the bundle I fed to the cutting machine.

Having described our invention, what we desire to secure by LettersPatent is:

1. Apparatus for cutting and collecting staple ber, comprising a cuttingmachine, a conduit leading from the cutting machine, a chambersubstantially larger in cross-section than that of the conduit and intowhich the conduitv discharges, the chamber extending transversely awayfrom the conduit, and means to apply suction to the chamber at the endremote from the conduit so as to carry the cut ber away from the cuttingmachine and along the length of the chamber at a velocity less than theconduit velocity.

2. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein` the conduit dischargesdownwardly into the chamber and the chamber extends away from theconduit in a generally horizontal direction."

WILLIAM IVAN TAYLOR. ALBERT HERBERT WOODRUFF.

